


To Wish Upon a Star

by The_Azkaban_Dreamer



Series: Weasley Chronicles [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-12 05:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20987873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Azkaban_Dreamer/pseuds/The_Azkaban_Dreamer
Summary: A few weeks before the Battle of Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley reflects on her relationship with Harry and has a heart to heart with her mother.





	To Wish Upon a Star

Ginny hated Muriel's House. It always had a strong smell of stale soup and overcooked cabbage and she was always bored to death whenever she was there as a child and hated how she was chided whenever she wanted to take a look at Muriel's porcelain ornaments.

But now that she was forced to move in there permanently after the Burrow became unusable after the Death Eaters figured out that Ron wasn't sick with Spattergroit and was on the run with Harry and Hermione.

She had never been more miserable. Not even when she was at Hogwarts and having to endure the wrath of the Carrows. It was even worse tonight; Fred and George were being even more rowdy than usual and Muriel was becoming unbearable.

It didn't help with Muriel making not-so-subtle suggestions that Ginny might've had her brains addled from excessive torture. It took all of Ginny's self-control to not do a Harry and blow her Great, Great Aunt up on the spot.

To make matters worse, she couldn't sleep at night. It didn't help that Muriel was snoring the place down and her mind was racing with worry. There was nothing for it; She had to get some fresh air.

Ginny stepped outside and shivered as the unnaturally cold air washed over her. She tightened up her dressing gown and tried to think of happy thoughts in order to combat the chill of the Dementors.

She thought of Harry and the last time they kissed. The days since she had last seen Harry were getting longer and she missed her ex-boyfriend so much that it was like a constant stomach ache.

But there were many times at Hogwarts in which she dreamt him standing sentinel over her as she slept. Watching her, letting her know that he was still out there somewhere, giving her hope and the strength to carry on.

The thought of Harry being alive was enough to combat the chill of the Dementors and Ginny sat down on Muriel's rickety old bench and looked up at the sky. There were quite a few stars up there and she briefly wondered whether Harry was watching the stars at the moment at Shell Cottage.

At the very thought of Harry, her heart ached. Harry was so close, but so far away. She wished she could go and see him, but her father said it was too dangerous.

Yet Ginny was used to danger, now. Had she not survived a brutal eight months at Hogwarts only to be pulled out when it was revealed that Ron wasn't sick with Spattergroit?

Her parents kept treating her as if she were a little girl. It wasn't fair. Ginny tried not to dwell too much on the war and instead thought of Harry.

Thinking of Harry always calmed her down and sure enough, she felt her temper waning as she thought how green his eyes are- Green as a fresh pickled toad. Not to mention his hair. As dark as a blackboard but so soft when she ran her hands through it. She remembered the poem that she had written for Harry for Valentine's Day in her first year and snorted.

She had come far since the days when she was an insecure little girl, writing all of her thoughts and feelings into a diary, only to have that very diary manipulate, betray and almost kill her.

But Harry saved the day as he always does. After having a childish crush on him, it was the catalyst that let to Ginny to fall in love with him.

It had been slow; it had been painful and she had taken Hermione's advice about meeting other people. She had been exposed to a more human side to him and she noted how she was the only one who could calm him down after he had his intense rages or when he was depressed and brooding, but despite having two boyfriends, she had never given up hope on him.

And her hopes were well founded; Last summer, Ginny noted how much Harry had laughed with her. How much he sought her company. It had given Ginny hope and all of her old feelings returned to her in full force.

But she wasn't that little girl anymore; If Harry really wanted her, he would have to ask her out himself and he did. He kissed her for the entire Gryffindor common room to see and Ginny would never forget how his emerald eyes glistened with happiness nor would she never forget the summer days that they had spent together, cuddled up by the lake.

So much of his character had changed and much of it for the better. No longer was he the sullen teenage boy who was angry at the world for denying that Lord Voldemort was back.

He was a man and during the course of last year, Ginny felt conflicted as her feelings for him returned. his infectious laugh was hard to resist and his grin was enough to make Ginny to go weak at the knees. She found it hard not to look into his bright green eyes that blazed like an unstoppable fire, making her believe that she too, could achieve the impossible.

It also didn't help that she was still in a relationship with Dean Thomas which was slowly deteriorating and she ended after she got fed up of him helping her through the portrait hole.

But her relationship with Harry didn't last long. Albus Dumbledore was murdered by Severus Snape and it was at Dumbledore's funeral that Harry ended their relationship. She had expected him to do so. He would never be truly happy if he wasn't off hunting Voldemort. But it had hurt and she returned to the Burrow rather cut up about their break up.

When Harry arrived after being escorted there, Ginny could tell that Harry had regretted calling the whole thing off and there were moments when their hands would brush, bringing back the familiar spark Ginny felt whenever they touched and Ginny would remember those summer days on the Hogwarts Grounds and how they couldn't have this intimacy anymore because Harry wanted to protect her.

It wasn't long before Harry would leave The Burrow with Ron and Hermione and Ginny wanted to give Harry something to remember her by for his Seventeenth birthday, but she didn't know what to get him. So, she asked him to come to her bedroom and kissed him like she had never kissed him before.

As goodbye kisses went, Ginny thought she did very well. She injected all of her feelings for him in that kiss, all those years of love for him that festered in her heart and had lain dormant now in full force. She had never been able to express herself like this to Harry.

But all good things come to an end and soon enough, Ron barged into her room, breaking them up. It wasn't how she had intended for it to go, but at least she got to say goodbye to him when he left the following day after the Ministry fell.

But it was that kiss which Ginny remembered when things were at their darkest and she vowed to do anything she could to help Harry, so together with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, she reinstated Dumbledore's Army and the three of them led the charge in defying the new regime led by Snape.

She imagined that Harry would be impressed with what they had done and she could imagine it now, his brilliant green eyes shining with affection as he looked at her.

Ginny was so lost in her thoughts about Harry, that it took a moment for her to realise that she could hear movement.

Sliding her wand down her sleeve -a trick that served her well in tough situations at Hogwarts-, Ginny caught it and scanned the area. The security wards around Muriel's house were still up and there would be no way they could be exposed due to the Fidelius Charm. If it were a random Snatcher or Death Eater, they'd be walking blind.

"Ginny?"

Ginny span around, pointing her wand and the source of the voice, but lowered it immediately as her Mum came into view, looking a lot thinner since Bill and Fleur's wedding and her face far gaunter than Ginny had seen it.

"I wondered where you were," Molly said, a frantic note in her voice. "What are you doing out here? It is _far _too dangerous to be outside even with the Fidelius Charm up. What if you wandered past the security wards?"

"Relax, Mum," Ginny said hastily. "I'm fine. I've just come out here to get some fresh air. Fred and George were driving me mad and if I hear one more word from Muriel about me being brain-addled from torture or anything like that, I swear I'd do a Harry and blow her up!"

"_Ginny!_" Molly chided, looking shocked. "You know that your Great, Great Aunt is getting on a bit and can't help what she says."

"Dumbledore was getting on a bit before Snape killed him and he was running Hogwarts just fine," Ginny said stubbornly, her temper flaring. "Muriel is just a vindictive old bat who is always spoiling for a fight with Fred and George ever since they planted that Dungbomb under her chair."

"All the same, _do_ try to be civil with her, Ginny," Molly said. "We all have to live with each other until one way or the other."

There was a nasty silence and Ginny was determined not to look at her mother. Instead, she sank down on the rickety bench and glowered at the horizon wishing she was anywhere but here.

"We're glad to have you back, Ginny," Molly said quietly, joining Ginny on the bench. "It was getting far too dangerous for you to stay at Hogwarts. Heavens knows what you were doing, but those bruises looked awful. I've cleaned them up the best I could."

"They didn't even hurt," Ginny said in a flat voice. "It's easy to resist it once you train yourself how. The Carrows are far too predictable. As for the Slytherins', they're not that bright. I must've hit Crabbe and Goyle with the Bat Bogey Hex about a dozen times now."

"What _were _you doing?" Molly asked, sounding concerned.

"Doing my best to play my part in resisting Snape and helping Harry," Ginny said fiercely. "Luna and I might be gone, but Neville is _never_ giving up."

"You were in a teenagers' gang?" Molly gasped, the shock in her voice evident.

"Dumbledore's Army," Ginny said through gritted teeth. "Is far more than a '_teenagers' 'gang'. _It's a resistance movement dedicated to fighting _him_."

"You're too young to be fighting him," Molly said wearily.

"Harry was a lot younger than me when he fought him for the Philosophers Stone," Ginny said hotly. "He was younger than me when he rescued me from The Chamber of Secrets and drove back all those Dementors. Not to mention being forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, seeing Cedric Diggory murdered, You-Know-Who returning and being forced to fight him, having to have his hand sliced open by that complete Hag Umbridge and teach Defence Against the Dark Arts to twenty-nine of his fellow students whilst You-Know-Who was playing with his mind."

"You're my daughter," Molly said firmly. "Harry has no family of his own apart from his Aunt and Uncle and the ones who should've been taking care of him have been quite irresponsible. I have no idea what Dumbledore was playing at by sending him off to do heavens knows what. He's lucky that he was able to escape in one piece and make his way to Shell Cottage. He could've been killed or- "

"Don't say that!" Ginny said at once, cutting across Molly. "I _knew_ he was alive."

"I thought so too, dear," Molly said. "But we haven't heard a peep from them since Bill's wedding and there have been a lot of disappearances lately. Thank Heavens that they're staying at Shell Cottage with Bill and Fleur. I see them dead all the time in my dreams, you know. Harry, Ron, Hermione. I don't know what they're doing out there, why they went on the run. Are they on the run or are they trying to find a way to stop You-Know-Who?"

"All I know is that Harry is trying to find a way to stop You-Know-Who," Ginny said. "And we would _know_ if they were dead. Have faith, Mum. We're going to make it out of this in one piece."

Ginny patted her mother's shoulder comfortingly and Molly took out a handkerchief and blew her nose. Ginny knew that Harry was still alive. The alternative wasn't worth thinking about.

"I miss them," Molly said thickly. "I miss the three of them. They should be at Hogwarts for their last year. It's almost May in a few weeks' time, they should be getting ready to be sitting their NEWTS, not on the run from the Ministry."

Molly let out a sigh before falling silent. Ginny knew how much this war had affected her mother. She hadn't been the same since the Ministry interrupted Bill and Fleur's wedding and was consumed by so much worry for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. In fact, Molly had been on edge so much lately, that Ginny wouldn't be surprised if Molly had somehow snapped and killed someone.

Yet Ginny herself had been on edge as well. She had kept her and Harry's relationship a secret for a while and only Ron and Hermione had known of it, but Ron and Hermione weren't here at the moment. She wanted to tell someone about their relationship so much that it felt like a dam in her chest was about to burst. She couldn't tell Fred and George. They had been quite busy running their joke shop from the back of Muriel's living room and were involved with Potterwatch and her father was usually busy, Ginny needed to tell her mum.

"I miss them too," Ginny said sadly, breaking the silence. "Ron, Hermione and Harry. I especially miss Harry. I bet he's over at Shell Cottage trying to find a way to kill You-Know-Who. He'll succeed, mum. I _know _he will."

"You've been talking a lot about Harry lately," Molly said shrewdly. "A lot more than any of us. It's like you're ten again and constantly pestering Ron about him like you did that summer before you started Hogwarts."

Ginny knew that the moment to tell her Mum about her and Harry was now- she wanted to. Yet she felt a strong sense of trepidation about doing so and her heart started to pound in her chest. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I went out with Harry," She said. "We were dating last year. Just before the summer holidays. It was the best time of my life."

"Y-you're in a relationship with him?" Molly asked, looking stunned and if Ginny wasn't mistaken, happy.

"Not anymore," Ginny said hollowly. "He broke up with me at Dumbledore's funeral of all places. He said he couldn't risk me getting hurt. I knew that this was coming eventually, but it still hurt you know."

"Is that why you seemed down when you came home?" Molly asked gently and Ginny nodded slowly. "I know that everyone was upset about Dumbledore, but I always thought that you looked a lot sadder than everyone else."

"I just wish that I had more time with him," Ginny said. "If only I had the courage to just be myself. We could've had years together instead of just that summer."

"I thought you had moved on from him," Molly said. "Are you telling me that after all this time? -"

"_Always_," Ginny said fiercely. "I never gave up on him, Mum. Not really. I just had to be myself and stop knocking things over. Have an actual conversation with him, meet other people. Hermione taught me well."

"I always thought that Harry and Hermione had a thing for each other," Molly said. "I even believed it when I read Rita Skeeter's article. I felt ever so guilty when Harry told me that that was not the case."

"_Merlin _no," Ginny snorted. The mere thought of Harry and Hermione being together was hilarious. "He's like a brother to Hermione. She loves him like a brother and we reckon that Harry feels the same way. It's always been like that. Besides, Hermione has too much of a thing for Ron."

"Ron and Hermione are together?" Molly asked, looking stunned.

"Not really," Ginny said. "He likes her, but he's too dense to do anything about it. He was spending the summer flirting with her. Did you see them at the wedding dancing together? As for last year, you should've seen them. They were both so dense and it only took Ron being poisoned for them to make up and- "

Ginny broke off. She was talking about Harry, Ron and Hermione as if they were reachable. It was always quite painful talking about them, but now she knew that they were at Shell Cottage, the longing to see them again swelled up inside her like a balloon.

To her irritation, tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she tried to brush them away with her sleeve- she hated it whenever she got emotional. But she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see her Mum looking down at her tenderly.

"He saved you again," Molly said, her eyes shining with tears and Ginny had to look away because she didn't want her mum to set her off. "That's the second time he's done that and the fourth time he's saved a member of our family. I'll always remember that time when you got dragged into the Chamber of Secrets and I thought I would never see you again. I had lost all hope and that was one of the worst days of my life. But the door opened and Ron and Harry stood with you and Harry had a sword in his belt and covered in blood having rescued you and I'll _never _forget that."

Ginny tensed as she tried not to remember those terrible days when Tom Riddle's Diary held sway over her.

"But he was right to end things with you, dear," Molly continued. "If you were still involved with him, You-Know-Who would've hurt you in order to get to Harry. I know it's painful for you, Ginny. Break ups are always painful- I've had quite a few break ups myself before I started going out with your father."

"Don't tell me you had other boyfriends, Mum," Ginny said, giving Molly a sly grin. "I thought you only had eyes for Dad."

"Ginny dear your Father and I are made for each other, but it took us a long time for us to realise it as I'm sure it took you and Harry the same amount of time," Molly said firmly, but she cracked a small smile- the first smile that Ginny had seen from her for months. "But never mind about us. That boy gave up his source of great happiness in order to keep you safe and alive for us. I am so thankful to him at this moment and I really wish I could go over to Shell Cottage and give him a hug right now."

"So do I," Ginny muttered.

As they were sitting together, they looked up at the sky where the stars were twinkling down upon them. Ginny loved the stars- they always gave her great comfort, especially when times were at its darkest. No matter how dark things became over the months, the stars themselves always twinkled down upon her, giving her the strength to carry on- a lot like Dumbledore's eyes.

"There's a storm coming, you know." Molly said.

"A storm?" Ginny asked, frowning. "But it's a clear night."

"Oh, yes," Molly said. "But mark my words; Sooner or later, this is all going to come to a head and all of us will be forced to make a decision."

Ginny looked back to the sky again, feeling grim.

"Is that a shooting star?" Molly asked suddenly, pointing to something bright in the distance, moving across the sky leaving a silver tail in its wake.

"I think it is," Ginny said, watching it move across the sky.

"They can grant wishes you know," Molly said.

"Really?" Ginny said, frowning at her mother. What's got into her? That was the sort of daft thing that Luna would come out with.

"Oh, yes," Molly said with a smile. "Whenever we saw them, we would silently make a wish. I used to do it all the time with your Uncle Fabien and Uncle Gideon when I was little. Whenever I spotted a shooting star, I would wish for something. I used to wish for some of the most ridiculous things, but I had quite the imagination, let me tell you."

"Did any of your wishes come true?" Ginny asked sceptically.

"As a matter of fact, dear, one wish _did_ come true," Molly said, giving Ginny a sideways look and smiling. "I had just found out that I was pregnant for the sixth time and I was really worried that child was going to be my seventh boy. I was out one night and I saw a shooting star and I wished that the child that I was going to have would be a girl. And here we are. You, my daughter. You may not be into cooking and knitting as much as I had hoped you would be- I'm not surprised to be honest with six brothers, but you have grown up to be strong and independent and I couldn't be more proud of you."

Ginny had no retort for that and sat there with a lump in her throat. She blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. She caught her mum's eye and saw her looking at Ginny, a tender expression on her face.

"But that doesn't mean I won't do my best to protect you," Molly said seriously. "You're my daughter and you're still underage at the moment. I don't want you putting yourself in danger."

Ginny felt slightly irritated at this, but she didn't want to have another row with her mum. Not when things were going so well.

Ginny decided that it wouldn't hurt if she did so, so she looked at the shooting star, still soaring across the sky. It seemed strange that she could somehow wish upon a star, but these were strange times and she looked at it with all her might, wishing that the war would end, that Voldemort would be defeated and that Harry, Ron and Hermione would emerge in one piece.

She wanted it so much, that her heart ached for it as she stared at the star, projecting all of her wishes at it. It was a lot better than pouring all of her feelings into a manipulative diary- The shooting star wouldn't betray her. She continued staring at the shooting star, until it disappeared.

Ginny turned to her mother, who was still looking at the horizon.

"You've made your wish, then?" Molly asked, looking back at Ginny.

"Yeah," Ginny said quietly. "Have you?"

"I've been making the same wish ever since You-Know-Who returned, dear," Molly said. "We've been quite lucky so far. But I don't think that luck will last forever. I just hope everyone makes it out in one piece."

Ginny nodded grimly, her eyes darting back to the sky again. She would give anything to get rid of Voldemort and the time was coming for her to stand and fight. She didn't care what her Mum said. She wanted to fight, she had to fight. She didn't spend her months at Hogwarts defying Snape's regime to simply give up and hide. She owed it to Harry, _her_ Harry.

She was pleased that her Mum took the news of her and Harry's past relationship very well. She only hoped that they would emerge in one piece in the battle to come.


End file.
